Video game sales evade strong economic headwinds (for the time being) Sparkers consultant Sam Naji looks back at game sales in 2022, including how new releases helped weather catalogue declines As we begin 2023, the economic headwinds against the UK are very strong, currently facing a triple whammy of economic pressures.UK taxes are some of the highest on record; new analysis by the Tax Payers Alliance has found the five year average tax burden is at a 70-year high.Headlines included Pokémon Scarlet and Violet becoming the fastest selling games in Nintendo history, Splatoon 3 sales surpassing 3 million units in Japan after its first two months, God of War Ragnarök having the biggest launch in its franchise history, and Call of Duty Modern Warfare II launch sales doubling that of Vanguard.These headlines of record-breaking sales would be impressive by themselves, but when combined with news that numerous video game publishers are also making record revenues, the industry is currently riding a wave that flies in the face of the dispiriting economic prognostications.To a large extent, this industry lives and breathes on new content, and that can directly impact spending further down the line What is evident from Chart 1 (below) is that a significant share of the decrease in sales came from "catalogue" games, namely those games which have been in market for over 12 weeks."